Men's Tennis

Broncos Hit the Road After Successful Opener

Jan 18, 2006

Jan. 18, 2006

Santa Clara, Calif. - After claiming two home victories earlier this week, the Santa Clara men's tennis team (2-0) will take to the road with two back-to-back matches against No. 20 Southern California and No. 19 California this weekend. Santa Clara's first victim of the year was UC Santa Cruz, falling 4-3 at the Degheri Tennis Center Monday morning and UC Davis took a 5-0 defeat later on that day. Impressive performances by freshmen Brian Brogan and Tommy Hicks highlighted the dual matches, as each won two singles matches apiece. Upperclassmen Jan Macek and Bobby Rasmussen also played solid tennis throughout the day.

The combination of experience and youthful exuberance will serve the Broncos well this weekend, as the Trojans are up first with a 10 a.m. meeting on Saturday, while the Golden Bears await a 9:30 a.m. face-off the following day. Southern California (0-0) will play Virginia in its season opener on January 18 prior to their showdown with Santa Clara. Junior Jamil Al-Agba heads up the line-up with a preseason No. 7 ranking in singles. Head coach Peter Smith has posted a USC record of 49-29 in four years in Los Angeles.

Listen to head coach George Husack on Broncos All-Access talk about upcoming opponents No. 19 California and No. 20 Southern California, in addition to how his team fared in their season opener.

"[Southern California] have a very strong team, a lot of history. They were national champions a few years ago and they have been recruiting and landing some of the better products in the country," said Santa Clara head coach George Husack. "Overall, they are trying to find out where they are as a team too... They are deep, as we are, but they do have a lot of young guys who have stepped up and earned a starting role, much like we have. I think it's going to be a good test for us to see where we are."

California (0-0) is led by a pair of ranked players, juniors Tyler Browne at No. 55 and Daniel Sebescen at No. 79. Freshman Eion Heavey has also made quite an impact for the Golden Bears, compiling an overall Fall record of 8-3. In addition, senior Colin Niland will be a player that Cal will turn to in crunch time, as he anchored the No. 1 position for much of last season. In his 12th season at the helm of the men's tennis program, head coach Peter Wright has a career record of 149-110 while at Berkeley.

"They are a deep and very experienced team, having lost only one player from last year. They are very strong throughout No. 1 through No. 6," commented Husack about California. "I think our guys can compete with any team in the country. The difference lies in the top positions, where [California] has more experienced guys who are playing against the best guys in the country at all times... Our guys are young and they just want to play."